


Made Bright by the Sun

by Fairyglass



Series: Fluff Bingo Q1, 2019 [2]
Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 06:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18424455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairyglass/pseuds/Fairyglass
Summary: This has been an exceptional difficult mission for Jack O'Neill.  Not because they were actually in any danger, but because a trick of the light makes him acknowledge something he's been trying to avoid: one Samantha Carter.





	Made Bright by the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [DW's Fluff Bingo](https://fluffbingo.dreamwidth.org/), Q1 2019
> 
> Square: Sunset

She laughs at something Daniel says, the sound rich in the otherwise quiet landscape of the tall whispering grass and alien bird song. Daniel sniggers and she slaps him against the arm, shooting a guilty glance over her shoulder at him.

This has been a hard mission for Jack. Not because there were hostels chasing them around -- there weren’t. Or because the crumbling, dusty ruins had held something dangerous that tried to kill them -- it hadn’t. It was Carter. Or rather, it was this planet’s light and the way it touched her that made things difficult for Jack.

The area immediately surrounding P3X-994’s stargate was cast in a perpetual sunset, sort of like a midnight sun, but Antartica never held anything so magnificent in its frozen palm as this. It didn’t just touch Carter, it painted her in pinks and reds and golds. It cradled her in blues and violets that danced in her bright hair, setting it like a halo around her radiant smile. The shadows, when they dared to fall on her, even those are luminous. The first time she’d turn to him, caught full in the planet’s glow, her brow crinkled against the readout from her little hand held do-whatsit, he’d caught his breath. 

Now, Jack figured, the same light is touching Daniel and Teal’c, even himself. But it wasn’t nearly as gracious to them as it was to her. It made them look good, sure. Maybe even great, a perpetual golden hour. But her… it made Captain Samantha Carter glorious.

He smirked back at her by rote. He hadn’t heard whatever it was Daniel had said, but he was willing to indulge them both a moment. He tried to keep that smirk in place, freeze it against his mouth; hold it firmly as a barrier to everything else jockeying to get out, but as she turned to look forward again, the wind caught her short hair and spun it like gossamer around her face and he couldn’t… because she… because _he_ … for so long now, but he can’t.

She did a double take, looking back at him again, catching him bold in his silent confession. She blinked, almost startled, before ducking her chin and rushing to look forward. Daniel was still talking, because that’s what he did best, and Jack could only pray it would distract her long enough to forget.

His voice was a little sharp when he said, “Teal’c, dial her up.” The large man easily left his side to punch in Earth’s address. Sam -- _Carter_ \-- readied the GDO signal. She looked at Jack again, her eyes narrowed that fraction he knew was her mind working. Second guessing itself, trying to slot a fact against an observation. Against what she thought she’d seen in his face.

And he wanted to lie to her, knew it was easier, safer, if he lied to her. Plaster on the smirk or maybe just leave everything blank; let her imagine whatever she wants to imagine in place of the truth. But as the cold, cool splash of the event horizon washed against the lambent glow that clung to her like a veil, he just couldn’t.

Jack felt himself swallow, felt his face flush. Her smile is slow but not hesitant, just gradual in its bloom. He finds himself returning it and immediately feels dopey, but that’s okay. Because this is Sam and she’s smiling at him and for months and months now he’s known he was falling into trouble, falling into something he couldn’t dare acknowledge. 

But maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be vulnerable again after all, if Sam is willing to catch him.


End file.
